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IC8 Product Director at Meta who built the core engine of Meta's ads delivery/AI ranking…
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Varun A. liked thisVarun A. liked thisHappy 250th birthday, America! It’s hard to believe I arrived here 20 years ago. From day one, I was struck by the warmth and acceptance of the people around me. I’m deeply grateful for the life I’ve built—and excited for what’s next. Thank you to #Stanford for an incredible education, and to the mentors and friends who’ve supported me every step of the way. #McCarthy was my first job out of school—where I learned fast, made lifelong friends, and built the foundation of my career as a builder. #DPR is where I spent most of my professional life—working on some truly iconic projects and learning alongside the best in the industry. Every time I drive past a project I helped build, I feel a pride that only someone in construction can understand. And now, on to #MeltPlan—fortunate to be part of a great team with big dreams. #America250 #AmericanDream #BuildInAmerica #Innovation
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Varun A. liked thisVarun A. liked thisWe're excited to welcome Vignesh M. to Opal Security as Software Engineer! After working in big tech for over a decade at Meta, Netflix, Microsoft, and Yahoo, Vignesh got the startup itch and cofounded Druxia as CTO, then went on to build agentic workflows at Ema. Turns out he's a small, focused team kind of person, so Opal was the perfect fit. Outside of work, between wrangling his kids, you'll find him glued to a movie or watching cricket. Welcome to the team, Vignesh 🎉
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Varun A. liked thisVarun A. liked thisToday, I officially step into the role of Chief Technology Officer at AppLovin. Looking back, one experience that has shaped me more than almost anything else is being on-call. It might seem like an odd thing to highlight on a day like this, but understanding how things break teaches you so much that you miss when simply building new things. On-call is a great way to expose the true weight of a system. Through it, you understand what really matters, and what matters less. It forces you to learn new things you'd never seek out on your own. It trains you to make decisions quickly, with incomplete information, under pressure. It gives you opportunities to work across the organization and build deep relationships. If you want to understand a company's technology deeply and grow your ownership, carry the pager! Today, I'm honored to carry a much bigger pager. I'm grateful to Basil, Adam, the board, and every engineer and teammate who has built together and trusted me with this responsibility. I don't take it lightly—and I can't wait to build what's next together.
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Varun A. liked thisVarun A. liked this💡What a week at Cannes Lions! 🥂 I finally get the draw… from panel insights on platform innovation to catching up with long-time agency partners, creators, and super smart colleagues, this year did not disappoint. Between the activations along the Croisette and sessions covering everything from creative strategy to sports marketing, the inspo was everywhere! But the real highlight was bringing everyone together to celebrate the power of community over sunset views and group celebrations. Huge thank you to all the peers and partners who made this week so productive, and I’m already looking forward to what we build together next! #CannesLions2026 #Marketing #AdTech #AgencyPartnerships #Creativity
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Varun A. liked thisVarun A. liked thisYesterday marked the great milestone for AppsFlyer. Receiving the kind of investment as the one we received is an outcome we could hardly imagine. It is great on so many levels with the most important two IMO are: 1) The alignment to our values of being neutral player in the ecosystem and our continous ability to work for the best interest of our clients and the cosystem as a whole. 2) Providing liquidity to the people who where involved in building the company throughout all these years. There are too many people to count who deserve credit, gratitue or both - empolyees, clients, partners investors and other people who just were there, happy to help along the way. Thank you all 🙏. https://lnkd.in/gSjgYUNkAppsFlyer Announces Investment from Moloco, Google, Meta, and Unity to Advance Independent Ad MeasurementAppsFlyer Announces Investment from Moloco, Google, Meta, and Unity to Advance Independent Ad Measurement
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Varun A. reacted on thisVarun A. reacted on thisI’ve had an incredible experience at InMobi - learning from great people, building strong partnerships, and helping grow the exchange business 45% YoY. I’m grateful to everyone who was part of that journey. And now excited to share that I’m joining LoopMe, as VP Enterprise, working alongside some of the best of the best - Maggie Mesa, Kavitha Gadde, Jeffrey Carlson, and several former MoPub colleagues. It's hard for us to not find each other. What excites me about this move is how consumer platforms and brands are increasingly focused on driving engagement, commerce, and re-engagement back into apps. As SDK-driven infra, AI, and commerce-first advertising continue to scale, mobile is (finally!) becoming more important than ever. LoopMe has built a solid platform and team at the center of that shift, and I’m excited to help scale the next phase of growth with our partners and customers.
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Varun A. liked thisVarun A. liked thisAfter +7yr at Meta, the layoffs finally got me! For the past year, I’ve been learning how to be a Product Manager while simultaneously shepherding an Ads product through Beta. Earlier this month, I achieved a major PM milestone by successfully exiting beta after hitting our $XXM ARR goal (6wk early) and establishing product market fit for a defined cohort of advertisers identified after a series of 50+ interviews with marketers (>26hr of in-depth customer conversations). The product is now on the path to GA (!), which is a wild thing to proudly say! The product itself is complex, nuanced and incredibly interesting. It’s an automation solution that challenges marketers to really examine their conviction and investment strategy in demand generation (brand) and/vs. demand capture (performance). 6yrs working directly with Meta advertisers as a Senior Client Solutions Manager is why I know this product will be an unlock for efficient long term growth on Meta. I can’t wait to see where the team takes it! So that’s it, that’s my Meta PM experience - I learned a TON, stressed a lot and met some incredibly intelligent people who graciously shared their expertise and kindness with me. This past year, how I think has changed, how I approach problems has evolved and my capacity for learning and being uncomfortable in the not knowing has grown immensely. A big thank you to the Full Funnel and Brand Core Ads Team for the causal mentorship, support and lolz along the way. I’m going to take some time to reset the ol nervous system, but then look forward to seeing what’s outside these corporate Meta walls!
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Varun A. liked thisVarun A. liked thisIt's been an amazing year so far and so much more to come. Join our Meta and Audience Network teams, at #MAUVegas this week to learn what we have been upto. From the first install, to ongoing engagement and monetization, Meta is where businesses maximize lifetime user value and measure results with confidence. Whether you're focused on monetizing or acquiring users, we'll share more about our plans, AI led improvements and industry trends shaping the future of mobile apps. Come build the future with us! 👊🏽 #AudienceNetwork #AppMonetization #UserAcquisition #LTV #ROAS #Mediation #AdQuality #Meta #Ads Varun A. Omri Farber Julia Tran Anala Prabhu Anshika Paliwal Thomas O'Day Piyush Bansal Utkarsh Sharma Anand Bhalgat Tarcisio Ribeiro Hahn Kim 🔜 MAU Alexandra Selich Heath Schindler Alessandra Motta Joshua Koh Omer Bacharach Alice Wei https://lnkd.in/gZ6srtJvAccelerate Growth and Monetization with Meta + Audience NetworkAccelerate Growth and Monetization with Meta + Audience Network
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Brittany Boals Moeller
In the San Francisco Bay Area, founders are relentless about growing and scaling their companies. They spot opportunity, scale through uncertainty, and create companies that redefine industries. Recently, we gathered a group of founders and tech leaders to discuss the intersection of company growth and long-term personal success. Eric S. Yuan, Founder and CEO of Zoom Communications, shared the inspiring story behind his company’s growth and eventual IPO. Eric reiterated that the founders who create the most impact don’t just plan for an exit – they prepare for what comes after. Too often, personal wealth planning lags company growth, and that gap can become costly at the most pivotal moments. The rest of the evening was focused on closing that gap. Our colleagues in Goldman Sachs Investment Banking, Pawan Tewari and Nick Giovanni, shared a candid outlook for M&A and IPOs in this environment, along with important steps founders should take to prepare for a strategic exit. We ended with a conversation around the key considerations for maximizing founders’ personal outcomes. Pre-transaction planning isn’t defensive - it’s opportunistic. Your company’s exit strategy and your family’s long-term planning work should not be done in isolation. When investment banking and private wealth work in sync, founders can cohesively optimize outcomes on all sides of the equation. To learn more about the practical “do’s and don'ts” for founders, we are happy to share our ‘Goldman guide’ for navigating wealth planning, business exists, and IPOs: https://lnkd.in/ewhEGjV3. Thank you, Eric, and to all the founders who joined us at The Battery in SF. On behalf of Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management and Investment Banking, we look forward to the next conversation.
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Jessica Kamada
Usually good consumer UX removes friction. Alinea Invest made a bold choice to *add* friction -- and its spot on. Alinea launched Crypto investing as part of their wealth platform for beginner investors last week. Before users can invest in Crypto, they receive an AI-powered lesson and *must* complete a quiz, proving their new knowledge. Only 30% of Crypto investors are women. Not fully understanding crypto is a huge reason why women don't invest. Very excited for more investors to have access to this knowledge and feel empowered to try a new asset class. Congrats to Eve Halimi Anam Lakhani & team! Read More in Forbes by Nicole Casperson: https://lnkd.in/ggx545Hz
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Jay Garmon
GPU power is advancing so fast -- and companies are willing to spend so aggressively that they'll only rent the newest model GPUs -- that previous-gen GPUs are effectively worthless. That means data center economics don't work, because you can't recoup the cost of installing GPUs before they become un-rentable. https://lnkd.in/gagATgG2
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